Last week, I impulsively reinstalled Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword on my computer, out of frustration at the writer's block I was experiencing at the time. Forty-eight hours later, I found myself uninstalling Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, not pleased at going to bed at 3 a.m. I know, I should have known better. But after watching the trailer for the upcoming Civilization V, I have two questions for Sid Meier and Firaxis Games: why, you magnificent bastards, do you see fit to ruin my life with another one of your brilliant and masterful strategy games? Also, how? How do you intend on outdoing Civilization IV, which won at least 9 Game of the Year awards?

Naturally, not much is being given away at this point, but it seems Firaxis' latest installment in the Civilization series may be its most ambitious yet. In addition to using a new game engine, Civilization V's maps will be based on a hexagonal grid, instead of the square-based grid of the past four games. Multi-unit stacking will not be allowed; instead, only units of the same type can stack together. Ranged units, like archers, can attack from a distance, instead of having to be directly adjacent to their target. Religion and espionage, concepts introduced in Civilization IV's expansion packs, will either be changed or removed altogether. Even roads, a feature of the original Civilization game all the way back in 1991, will be different.

An interesting addition will be city-states, which will function as NPCs (non-player cities, if you will). They will interact with the player (peacefully or otherwise), but unlike rival civilizations, will not attempt to win the game (since they are not a "civilization" proper). The expansion of a (civilization's) city borders will be more realistic, taking terrain into account. New leaders have been announced for civilizations we've seen in previous games (Oda Nobunaga stepping in for Tokuagawa for Japan, Saladin of the Arabs giving way to Harun Al-Rashid, for example). The Songhai, representing the Songhai Empire of Western Africa, will make their first appearance in the Civilization series, with other civilizations being available as downloadable content.

True to game trailers (especially games months away from release), the trailer for Civilization V doesn't give away any ideas of how the game actually looks. Screenshots have been released, but I'm too visual a person to really get a feel from those. The trailer does look quite good, to be honest, suitably stoking the feel that this will be the grandest and most epic of the Civilization games to date - and that's saying something, considering how accomplished Civilization IV was. We're promised Civilization V will be available by the fall of this year. My writer's block had better be ready.